Unlocking the Power of Chemistry: Calculating Percent by Mass of Nitric Acid

How can we determine the percent by mass of nitric acid in a mixture?

Given a 14.0 g sample of an aqueous solution of nitric acid and 16.6 mL of 2.07 M sodium hydroxide required to neutralize the acid, what is the process to calculate the percentage of nitric acid by mass in the mixture?

Calculation Process:

To calculate the percent by mass of nitric acid in the mixture, we first need to determine the number of moles of nitric acid using the molar volume and the volume of sodium hydroxide. Then, we can proceed to find the mass of the nitric acid and finally calculate the percentage by mass.

Detail Explanation:

Given that 16.6 mL of 2.07 M sodium hydroxide is required to neutralize the nitric acid, we can utilize the molar ratio between nitric acid and sodium hydroxide to determine the number of moles of nitric acid present. By multiplying the molarity of sodium hydroxide by its volume, we can find the number of moles of nitric acid.

Following the calculation, we can determine the mass of nitric acid by multiplying the number of moles obtained by the molar mass of nitric acid. This will provide us with the exact mass of nitric acid present in the mixture.

Finally, to calculate the percent by mass of nitric acid in the solution, we divide the mass of nitric acid by the total mass of the solution and multiply by 100%. The result will give us the percentage composition of nitric acid by mass in the mixture.